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Body Condition Scoring: BCS As A Management Tool

Body condition scoring is a tool used to evaluate an animal's nutrition, health, and environment based on a 1-5 scale. Pigs scoring below 2 need increased feeding, while obese pigs (5) need calorie reduction. After farrowing, sows should attain a score of 3-4 to adequately nourish litters. Common procedures for baby pigs include navel cord care to prevent infection, castration of males to reduce aggression, clipping needle teeth to prevent injury, tail docking to prevent biting in some systems, and iron injection to prevent anemia.

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303 views5 pages

Body Condition Scoring: BCS As A Management Tool

Body condition scoring is a tool used to evaluate an animal's nutrition, health, and environment based on a 1-5 scale. Pigs scoring below 2 need increased feeding, while obese pigs (5) need calorie reduction. After farrowing, sows should attain a score of 3-4 to adequately nourish litters. Common procedures for baby pigs include navel cord care to prevent infection, castration of males to reduce aggression, clipping needle teeth to prevent injury, tail docking to prevent biting in some systems, and iron injection to prevent anemia.

Uploaded by

ronalit malintad
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Body Condition Scoring

Body condition scores (BCS) are useful for evaluation of nutrition provision for the
sow and boar. BCS can also be used to evaluate things such as heating, ventilation and
health. Animals with proper nutrition intake that exhibit low BCS are losing weight
due to environmental or health reasons. The BCS scale ranges from 1-Emaciated to 5-
Obese.
Pigs with BCS less than 2 should receive immediate action to increase body condition. If
improvement does not occur the animal should be euthanized according to the farm’s euthanasia
plan. Obese sows (BCS 5) should receive a daily caloric reduction to allow body condition loss.
Sometimes pigs fed together will experience differing trends in body condition as one pig (e.g. a
boss sow) out competes the other for feed intake. In this scenario a change in feeding protocol is
warranted.

BCS as a Management Tool


Gestating sows should be managed to attain a BCS 3 or 4 about two weeks prior to farrowing.
This conditioning indicates that the growing litter in the sow is adequately nourished and that she
will possess adequate body stores to draw upon when nursing a litter. Sows with BCS 5 may
experience farrowing complications.

Body Condition Scoring Graphic


Body condition scores can be assessed through visual appraisal as well as by handling the
animal.

Breeding Management
A sow is a female pig that has already had a litter and a gilt is a female pig that has
not had a litter. Therefore, a gilt can be a pregnant animal (up until its first litter). Pigs
are prolific and a sow can have many litters over the course of her lifetime.
As a rule of thumb in commercial industries, sows are often culled after their seventh litter
because statistics show that sow productivity drops at that time to a point where higher
production is attainable by replacing her with a gilt. Certainly some sows can be productive
beyond the seventh litter and some gilts may not be as productive, but in large operations with
many sows this culling ideal proves to make economic sense. When a sow is culled from the
herd the young female that will take her place is often referred to as a replacement gilt.

Sow longevity is a term used in industry to refer to the time that a sow spends on a farm. Parity is
a term used to describe the number of litters that a sow has had. For instance a 1st parity sow has
had one litter, a 2nd parity sow two litters and so on. Farms with many sows pay close attention
to sow longevity because it is expensive to raise replacement gilts and it makes economic sense
to keep sows on the farm as long as they are economically productive. Sow well-being and
health are paramount to sow longevity.

Gilt Introduction
Breeding farm management starts with gilts. Healthy animals in good physical conditions will
lead to larger litters and better nursing performance for future piglets. Gilts can be brought to the
farm at any age after weaning. Some farms will raise their own replacement gilts so that new
animals are not introduced into the existing herd.

Cycles and Heat Determination


Sows and gilts have an average 21 day heat cycle, although this can range from 17 to 25 days.
An average animal in heat today will be in heat again in three weeks. This can be used to help
synchronize farrowing dates in small herds so that animals are farrowing around the same time,
and can be weaned of piglets (and therefore bred for their next litter) at the same time.

Natural Matings
Natural mating between a boar and a female is a fairly straightforward process. The animals
should be introduced to one another in a penned area. It is inadvisable to utilize large boars to
breed small sows and gilts.

Artificial Insemination
Artificial Insemination allows managers to take advantage of genetic choices with lower risk of
disease transmission. AI requires greater management skill and effort than natural matings. Most
breedings in today’s industry are conducted with this method.

Recycling
After breeding you must monitor the females daily and note if discharge or abortion occurs.
Often sows and gilts will not become pregnant and return to heat again. This is called recycling
and occurs on average 21 days after mating (range 17-25 days).

Conclusion
It has been said that breeding is the only time that you are actually making pigs: the rest of the
time you are saving them.

Breeding Systems
Hog operations differ in their goals and markets. This helps to determine what type of
breeding system the producer utilizes. In general, there are two different types of
breeding systems, purebred and crossbred.

Purebred Breeding Systems


When both of a pig’s parents are registered members of the same breed, the pig is purebred. If its
parents are members of different breeds, it is crossbred. A registered pig is a purebred pig whose
name, herd and registration numbers, date of birth, pedigree, and name of owner are recorded
with a breed registry association. A pig must meet all of the requirements of the breed registry
association in order to be registered.
Crossbred Breeding Systems
Crossbred pigs have some advantages over purebred pigs because of a genetic phenomenon
called heterosis (also known as hybrid vigor). Because of heterosis, most commercial swine
producers use crossbred pigs rather than purebreds as market animals. What is heterosis?
Heterosis usually gives crossbred pigs an improvement over the average of its parent purebreds
in a certain trait.

Farrowing Management
Farrowing is a term specific to swine that refers to the action of giving birth. Another
general term for this is parturition. Farrowing management begins months before
piglets are born.

Pre-Farrowing Considerations
The breeding date will determine farrowing date. Some producers may wish to synchronize
weaning dates so that sows are bred and subsequently farrow around the same date. Remember
the average gestation length is 114 days. Record breeding dates and mark the projected
farrowing date on a calendar so the date does not catch you by surprise and you can be prepared.

Housing
Prior to farrowing sows should be moved into a controlled environment that allows optimum
success for her and her litter. This typically means that special housing is provided to the sow.

Farrowing Attendance
Once delivery begins pigs can be expected to arrive about every 15 minutes. Sometimes delivery
timing is slower and sometimes two pigs will arrive at the same time. About half of the pigs will
arrive head first and half tail first. It is ideal management to attend and monitor farrowings.

Piglets
Piglets arrive wet and hungry. Piglets will immediately and instinctively work their way to a teat
for nourishment. Providing supplemental heat to the piglets upon their birth can enhance
viability.

Sow Management During Nursing


Much of sow management during nursing revolves around feed and water. The sow should
receive as much as she will eat of a high-energy lactation diet. The feed must allow the sow to
maintain her own body demands while providing nourishment for the entire growing litter.

Weaning
Removing the piglets from the sow can occur anytime after 14 days of age. Many commercial
operations wean pigs prior to 21 days of age. However, many smaller farms wean pigs after 28
days of age and pigs can be successfully weaned at up to six weeks of age.

Conclusion
Both sows and piglets are involved in farrowing management. The sow must be managed so that
she provides nutrition to her nursing litter while maintaining a health status that allows continued
productivity in future breeding cycles. It is important to consider environmental control that
keeps both sow and litter comfortable. Remember that farrowing and nursing are instinctive
activities. Assist farrowing only when complications are evident.

Processing Procedures for Baby Pigs


After farrowing there are several procedures that you need to perform on baby pigs.
These are navel cord care, castration of males, clipping needle teeth, injecting iron,
and tail docking. Although any or all of these procedures could be skipped, there are
sound reasons why these procedures are necessary and will benefit the long term
welfare of the animal.

Navel Cord Care


After farrowing, the navel cord is finished serving its purpose of carrying nutrients into the fetus
and transferring waste products out. However, it can become a pathway for bacteria to enter the
pig’s body.

Castration
In the United States the vast majority of male hogs are castrated at a young age. As boars (intact
males) get older, they become more aggressive which can become a problem in group housing.

Castration Method for One Person Using a Surgical Knife


(adapted from PIH 01-01-07)

Clipping Needle Teeth


Pigs have 8 canine teeth often referred to as needle teeth or wolf teeth. It is a good management
practice to clip these teeth within the first day after birth. If left unclipped these teeth may cause
injuries to littermates and the sow’s udder. These cuts can easily become infected. Sows may
refuse to nurse if suffering from infected cuts on the udder.

Tail Docking
Tail biting can be a problem in some penning systems if tails are left full length. This is not a
common problem in outdoor systems. Depending on your particular hog-rearing system, you
may be well-advised to dock the tails of baby pigs or you may not need to.

Iron Injection
Baby pigs have a tendency to develop anemia due to naturally low iron levels as newborns, low
iron levels in the sow’s milk and colostrum, and the rapid growth rate of the pig. Furthermore,
pigs raised on concrete tend to have more anemia than those raised outside where they can dig in
the soil and consume iron at the same time.

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